I am a tax professional that owns and run an Accounting Franchise specializing in small business. The purpose of the Blog is to help the small businesses that are too big for the H&R Block type tax services but to small for the major accounting firms. Most businesses fail because of poor or no business plan and little or no tax knowledge. So it is my mission to bridge the gap. I believe the more successful businesses we have the better our economy will be.
Thank you for allowing me to share.

30 October 2012

TAX Identity Theft

Why you should be
concerned about your tax return.

In 2011 over5 Billion dollarsin refund checks were delivered. That’s a large
sum of money considering all of it went to the Identity thieves.

Even though many of the
fraudulent returns were filed using social security numbers of children, the
deceased and individuals that would not normally file,There is very little to
stop tax identity theft from happening to us.

An increasing number of taxpayers have filed
their returns only to discover someone stole their identity and
filed a return without their knowledge. (I know of at least 3 people who had that experience). In addition to a feeling
of violation and major annoyance, other issues that could arise are:

Delayed
Refund

IRS
having the wrong address on file

Audit
notice

A delayed refund check due to identity
theft would cause many financial upsets.

The IRS having an incorrect address might not be
so bad for some but, an audit notice could cause a nervous breakdown for
others.

Jokes aside, if you're a victim of Tax
Identity theft, the first course of action should be to fill
out a form 14039 with the IRS. (send it certified
with return receipt).

The next step is to call to confirm the IRS
received your form
10439. Make sure you get the name, badge number and time you called the
IRS representative to CYA (cover your assets).

The next thing you should do is file a
police report. Why you may ask?

Just in case you get
audited you will have the police report as an affidavit. Let's face the facts,
that the IRS is a large organization and many (if not most) of the departments
in the IRS do not communicate with one another.

Without a police
report and proof of a filed form 14039, it could be well into the next year
before the identity theft issue is resolved.